6.  The applicant is a registered association of landowners (pozemkové spoločenstvo). It is a legal person with its registered office in Trenčín. It was entered in the official register with effect from 30 December 1996. Mr K. Rehák, its president, lodged the application on the applicant's behalf.
7.  Under the communist regime in Czechoslovakia owners of land were in most cases obliged to put their land at the disposal of State-owned or cooperative farms. They formally remained owners of the land but in practice had no possibility of availing themselves of the property.
8.  Some of the land in question was, for various reasons, not cultivated by the farms. It was the State policy to promote the use of such land for gardening. For that purpose allotment gardens (záhradkové osady) were established, mainly in the vicinity of urban agglomerations. Individual plots of land were put at the disposal of persons belonging to the Slovakian Union of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners (Slovenský zväz záhradkárov), who were allowed to cultivate the land as a pastime activity for their individual needs.
9.  In the context of Czechoslovakia's[1] transition to a market-oriented economy following the fall of the communist regime, Parliament adopted the Land Ownership Act 1991 (for further details concerning the relevant law and practice see point II below), the purpose of which was to mitigate certain wrongs and to improve the care of agricultural and forest land.
10.  Under the Land Ownership Act 1991 the plots of land on which allotment gardens had been established were not to be restored in natura to the original owner where ownership of the land had passed from the original owners to the State or a legal person. In such cases the original owners were entitled to compensation in kind or in pecuniary form. In this category of cases the legislator gave precedence to legal certainty for the existing users of the property, as the use of land for gardening was considered to be of greater public interest than restoring the land in natura to its original owners.
11.  In the second category of cases, where the original owners maintained their ownership rights, albeit in name only (nuda proprietas), the Land Ownership Act 1991 established conditions enabling the owners to enjoy their property rights to a greater extent. In particular, it provided for the land to be let to the existing users, with a notice period expiring on the date when the temporary right to use the land came to an end. The tenants were, however, entitled to have the lease extended by ten years unless an agreement to the contrary was reached between the parties. The landowners were also entitled to request, within three years of the coming into effect of the 1991 Act, the exchange of their property for a different plot of land owned by the State.
12.  The above approach, permitting the owners to recover full possession of their land after the expiry of the ten years for which the tenants had the right to have the lease extended, was modified with the adoption of Act 64/1997. As a result, owners have only a limited possibility of terminating the lease, mainly on the grounds of the tenants' failure to comply with their obligations. The position of the tenants has been strengthened in that they are entitled to acquire ownership of the land they use for gardening. As to the owners, Act 64/1997 gives them the right to obtain either a different plot of land or pecuniary compensation.
13.  In introducing Act 64/1997 the legislator abandoned the philosophy of giving general priority to the rights of the owners of plots of land on allotment sites and took the position that it was in the general interest that the rights of persons who had been using the land for gardening should prevail.
14.  The land owned by the predecessors of the members of the applicant association was put at the disposal of the agricultural cooperative in Trenčín-Soblahov. The owners' formal title to the land remained unaffected, but they had no possibility of using it in practice.
15.  On 24 November 1980 the cooperative farm let the land, free of charge, to the Trenčín branch of the Slovakian Fruit and Gardening Association (Slovenský ovocinársky a záhradkársky zväz), as the Union of Gardeners was known at the time. The contract was to expire on 31 December 2000 unless the parties reached an agreement on its extension. The tenant was to return the land to the lessor in its original state on termination of the lease.
16.  On 31 March 1982 the authorities approved the establishment of the “Váh” allotment gardens on the land in question, located in an industrial area on the outskirts of the town of Trenčín. The project envisaged the apportionment of 74 individual plots with a surface area of approximately 300 square metres on which garden huts with a surface area of 12 square metres would be built. Re-cultivation of the land and communal facilities such as a road and a parking area, water supply and a fence at the allotment site's boundaries were also planned.
17.  The local branch of the gardening association subsequently concluded separate contracts with its members. Individual plots of land were thereby put at the latter's disposal until 31 December 1999. The gardeners obtained a permit to build huts. Unless the lease contract was extended before 30 June 1999, the huts were to be entirely removed by the gardeners.
18.  In 1995 the present members of the applicant association inherited the title to the land where the Váh allotment gardens had been established.
19.  On 12 May 1997 the applicant association submitted a draft rent contract to a representative of the gardening association. On 21 May 1997 the president of the Váh allotments rejected the proposal as being unacceptable. Reference was made to negotiations about a one-year contract under Act 64/1997 pending a decision on the ownership of the land.
20.  Between 1998 and 2002 the Trenčín municipality charged the applicant 11,260.92 Slovakian korunas (SKK) a year in real property tax in respect of the land used by the gardeners. The tax was based on municipal regulations fixing the tax on gardens at SKK 0.44 per square metre.
21.  The applicant submitted copies of bank statements indicating that the Slovakian Union of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners had paid to it, following the entry into force of Act 64/1997, SKK 8,762.40 as a yearly rent for the use of 29,208 square metres of land. That amount corresponds to SKK 0.3 per square metre.
22.  The applicant association unsuccessfully attempted to recover possession of the land. For that purpose it offered to compensate the gardeners for their existing property attached to the land.
23.  On 22 July 1998 the allotment gardeners initiated proceedings under Act 64/1997 with a view to having the ownership of the land transferred to them.
24.  On 24 September 1999 the Trenčín District Office granted the request to start proceedings under Act 64/1997. The Trenčín Regional Office upheld this decision on 24 November 1999.
25.  On 6 September 2000 the Trenčín Regional Court dismissed an action which the vice-president of the applicant association and several other persons had lodged against the above decision of the Regional Office. The Regional Court found that the statutory requirements for bringing proceedings under sections 7 et seq. of Act 64/1997 had been met.
26.  On 30 November 2001 the District Office in Trenčín made public the consolidation project pursuant to section 13 of Act 64/1997. The president of the applicant association as well as all the other landowners whose address was known were notified of the project and informed that the data contained therein could be challenged within fifteen days.
27.  The letter stated, in particular, that one part of the applicant's land (1.5665 hectares) had been valued at SKK 6.1 per square metre and the other part (1.0046 hectares) at SKK 6.9 per square metre. The major part of the land to be provided to the applicant in compensation was valued at SKK 9 per square metre. The valuation had been carried out in accordance with the relevant administrative regulation. It was based on the classification of the land and its quality at the time when the tenants had acquired the right to use the land.
28.  Some of the allotment gardeners submitted their comments on the project. The authorities approved the project on 11 February 2002.
29.  On 4 June 2002 a decision was issued to carry out the consolidation project. On 6 August 2002 the Regional Office in Trenčín dismissed the appeal lodged by the landowners.
30.  The gardeners subsequently paid the purchase price for the 2.5711 hectares of the applicant's land to the Slovakian Land Fund. On 1 October 2002 the applicant association received 1.4097 hectares of different land in compensation. On 2 December 2002 the District Office in Trenčín approved the manner in which the consolidation project had been implemented. Its decision became final on 14 February 2003. On that day the ownership of the relevant plots of land passed formally to the persons involved.
31.  The zoning plan in respect of the area in which the Váh allotments are situated was approved in 1999. It indicates that the whole area forms part of a “production and services zone”. The zoning plan does not foresee that the land on the allotment site will be used for its current purpose in the future. At present an industrial park is in the process of being established in the vicinity of the allotments. The land within the allotment site has not been included in the project at this stage.
32.  According to information in the land register, at least eight gardeners from the Váh allotments sold their plots to other persons between 2004 and 2006.
33.  On 17 May 2005 the District Land Office in Trenčín, at the Government's request, explained that the Váh allotment gardens in Zlatovce were situated on land which, at the time of their establishment, had been derelict and had served as a municipal dump. The surface area of the applicant's land which fell under Act 64/1997 was 2.5711 hectares. The surface area of the land which the applicant had received in compensation was smaller as it was arable land of higher quality and value. The document further indicated that the value of the applicant's land taken into account in the consolidation proceedings had been the value on the date when the allotments were established. The same regulation relating to the value of real property for administrative purposes had been applied in valuing the substitute land.
34.  In 2005 one of the representatives of the applicant association sold to a company a plot of land in the vicinity of the Váh allotments for SKK 380 per square metre. Prior to the sale, an expert had valued the land at SKK 288. On 10 January 2007, the same company offered to buy different plots belonging to the applicant association in the area for SKK 380 per square metre.
35.  In August 2005, at the Government's request, an expert established the value on 1 October 2002 of both the land on the allotment site and the land which the applicant association had received in compensation. The expert calculated the value for general purposes of the land on the allotment site at SKK 1,166.40 per square metre. The location of the land in an industrial zone increased its value considerably according to the opinion.
36.  The same expert assessed the general value of the other plot of land at SKK 110.16 per square metre. The opinion stated that the substitute plot of land was situated between a motorway and a slip road and that a high‑voltage line was erected above it. As a result, multiple restrictions applied to the use of the plot. No construction activity was envisaged in the area.
37.  On 15 December 2006 a different expert, at the Government's request, established the value in 1982 of the applicant's land at SKK 257,100, or approximately SKK 10 per square metre. The expert calculated the value of the land on 14 February 2003 at SKK 7.71 million, that is, approximately SKK 300 per square metre. The gardeners' investments (huts, fence, wells, permanent vegetation, etc.) were tentatively valued at SKK 241 per square metre of land in 2003. The general value of the land including the gardeners' investments was thus SKK 541 per square metre. Finally, the expert assessed the general value in 2003 of the arable land which the applicant association had obtained in compensation at SKK 95 per square metre.
38.  On 21 December 2006, at the applicant's request, a private company assessed the value on 23 May 2002 of the applicant's land on the allotment site at SKK 7.6 million. That sum corresponds to approximately SKK 295 per square metre. In a document dated 16 January 2007, at the applicant's request, the company in question submitted comments on the above opinion of 15 December 2006. The view was expressed that the expert's conclusion was probably not in line with local market prices. Plots of land similar to those used by the gardeners, including gardeners' investments, were most frequently sold for between SKK 250 and 300 per square metre, whereas free plots of land outside allotments were being sold at SKK 350-380 per square metre in that area. The use of the land by gardeners had rather a negative impact on its general value. Land in the area in question could be let out for at least SKK 20 per square metre yearly, its value for general purposes being between SKK 280 and 300 per square metre.
39.  In a letter addressed to the Government's Agent on 14 March 2007, the Institute of Forensic Engineering in Žilina, having examined the comments submitted by the above private company, expressed the view that the expert who had submitted the opinion on 15 December 2006 had proceeded in accordance with the relevant law.